CIB Research Managers' Meeting

Special Upcoming Event
CIB Research Managers' Meeting
4-5 June 2000 in Ottawa, Canada, by Dr. Sherif Barakat, IRC, Canada
Sherif Barakat
The Next CIB research Managers Meeting will be held on June 4-5, 2000 in Ottawa, Canada, in
conjunction with the CIB TG35 conference on Innovation Systems in Construction. Sherif Barakat of
IRC, Canada, has provided the following agenda for the meeting.
Background
At its 62nd meeting in Hangzhou, China, the CIB Program Committee confirmed its wish to continue
organizing the Research Managers' meeting series. These meetings are a good venue for research
managers to exchange opinions and experiences about opportunities and challenges facing them, best
practice in management and potential for increased collaboration.
To be useful and effective, these meetings have to address issues of current concerns to the group and
discussions should be at a level that would aid the managers at making decisions relevant to their
national position but taking in account all elements of the global business environment.
The Context
In October 1997, the journal of "Building Research and Information" dedicated a full issue to the topic of
"the future of National Building Research Organizations". Authors included several members of CIB
Board and PC such as George Seaden, Erkki Leppavuori and Roger Courtney. Many issues discussed in
these papers are still relevant today: funding pressures; long-term vs. short-term research and changes to
research priorities, to name a few. These and other issues could be discussed in light of recent changes to
the construction industry and the environment in which it operates.
Other issues have emerged in the last few years. One important issue is "International collaboration". The
new economy based on Information technologies is transforming the world into a global village.
Companies are increasingly operating across national boundaries and project tasks are shared between
offices around the globe. Issues such as performance-based construction, sustainable construction and
construction innovation are so vast that they have to be addressed simultaneously in many countries. It is
becoming apparently imperative that significant collaboration between national organization is needed if
we are to achieve significant outcomes.

In parallel with these issues, governments, and sponsors of national research organizations in general, are
demanding proof of the return on their investment; not an easy task for a research organization.
Techniques including case studies, performance measurement and benchmarking are being used in
various ways and combinations to address the demands. Sharing experiences in this area would be of
great benefit to managers.
Program
The program would include several topics related to the discussion above. Each topic would be
introduced by 2-3 speakers followed by an open discussion. Topics would include:
The evolving role of National Building/construction research organizations.
What is their role in the innovation system?
How is the funding mix affecting the role?
What is the impact of partnership with industry?
Capitalizing on Intellectual property?
Building a new model for global research alliances.
Can we do everything nationally?
How to finance international alliances/collaborations?
Can we measure ROI of research?
General approaches to measurement and benchmarking of R&D organizations.
What approaches have been tried? How successful were they?
To what extent are international comparisons possible?
What to measure - are definitions needed? And how?
Methodologies for case studies, impacts, incrementality and attribution of benefits.
Information Contact
Dr. S.A. Barakat
Director General
NRCC-IRC
National Research Council Canada
Institute for Research in Construction
Montreal Road, M-20
Ottawa, ON K1A OR6
Canada
Tel: +1.613.9932443
Fax: +1.613.9410822
E-mail: sherif.barakat@nrc.ca